Richmond from the Hill above the Waterworks
William James Bennett after George Cooke
1834
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Virginia Historical Society
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Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal

By William M.S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton

To some commentators in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the term "Old Virginia" conjured up images of the region's proud past and traditions, of its great men and contributions to the cause of freedom, of a pastoral society governed by benevolent stewards of the land, and of an era in which society was ruled by a code of honor and decency that has largely fallen by the wayside under the pressures of the modern world. To others it signaled, and still signals today, an economic system based on oppression and racial segregation, and an apparently civilized way of life built upon a foundation of bondage and cruelty. In Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal William M. S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton examine the origins of these conflicting conceptions of the region's heritage, and in the process uncover new ways to understand Virginia's past.

Hardcover, 252 pages, ISBN 1574271393, published by Howell Press, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2003.

$60 hardcover/$40 softcover [order]

Introduction
I. Origins of the Pastoral
II. Pursuit of Gentility
III. Decline and Resistance
IV. Resurgence of the Old Order
V. Triumph of the Colonial Past
Exhibit Catalog
Acknowledgements
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